Shirai (Masami Odate), along with Mae Young Classic winner and NXT star Kairi Sane, had been the top performers for the STARDOM promotion for the past few years prior to their signings with WWE, with both even making a couple appearances in Season 3 of Lucha Underground.

Shirai was set to be signed by WWE in 2017 when Sane was signed for the inaugural Mae Young Classic, but a heart issue in her medical testing caused WWE to rescind their offer.

Shirai recently lost the Wonder of STARDOM Championship (their top title) to Momo Watanabe last week, leading to rumblings starting about her signing with WWE, but STARDOM was said to have not known about Shirai’s signing with WWE until Sunday night when the story broke.

WWE is said to be talks with other performers from STARDOM about signing with the company as along with Shirai, Toni Storm (who was a major name for STARDOM over the last couple years) has also recently signed with WWE as part of the impending WWE UK touring brand.